The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-04-23
A BLIND INVENTOR.
Constructing Magazine Gun Without
the Aid of Sight.
English Letter From Vienna.
l. ! IL. -

English Letter From Vienna.
l have had the opportunity Of meeting the
inventor of a new rifle Herr Franz Fortelka,
former lieutenant in the Austrian
army who, during the first campaign
in Bosnia, received a shot in his
right eve, which destroyed the optic nerve
and indirectly so affected the left eye that
the poor officer, now only 28 years old, has
been for the last nine years totally blind.
But without the use Of his eyesight this
ingenious man has invented during these
years not only new magazine rifle, but also
two machines for the anti oxidation of iron,
steel and other metals, at a cost which must
be called ridiculously small; further, an ap-
paratuS for automatical mapping, new
micrometer, a new sort of gunpowder, not to
speak of smaller inventions which found
their way into the lesser industrial establish
ments Of Vienna and saved the inventor
from starvation, as his greater discover-e, 3,
far from bringing him money as yet, noceS-
state an outlay which he can afford only by
extreme personal privations. MY rife, ,
complained the unfortunate inventor,
| would have long been in the hands of the
British government had the advance mon, y
which obtained from a private person ln
London been more than 420, which did not
suffice for the wages of the one workman
VINO assists me and the necessary material.
Now at last it is finished, and though | may
fall ilto the fault of all inventors, | consid-
er it the best rifle existing, being without
the disadvantages of other machine rifles,
and with many advantages over them.
can prove by my Austrian and German
patents of some five years ago that the
straight pull system which distinguishes
every modern rife, and in itself, without
the machine secures the double effect, has
been my invention. Upon this and upon
other appropriations III the same line by
different successful inventors | do not lay
any stress. There is my new rife, which,
in short, has the following advantages: Il
can be used as a single loader even with an
attached magazine; the cartridges are not
thrown into the magazine in a loose form,
but lie one above the other, without the
possibility of placing them wrongly; the
magazine can be attached or not
at will, all parts are solid, no
spiral spring exists IN The rife; the
price of my weapon with royalty and every
thing else will be under e. Every old
system, with the exception Of WeIndls,
can be used for transformation into my rifle
nt a cost OF or 10 shillings--less In the case
Of Gras, Mauser Berdan or Beaumont, and
something more in the case OF the Henry
Martini.
"And how can you make any invention,
especially such n complicated one M rifle,
without unfortunately, being able 10 see the
separate parts. and how are your devices
carried out by the worAinen q
II see with my fingers Aud not in one
single case have they deceived me. lte
really curious that when great and minute
measurements arr IN question, those who gse
with their eyes 0fe wrong, and !, with tho
use Of my fingers, am right The models for
my machluee against oxidation ~ metals
were entirely made by myself from carved
wood, with the heip of string, w1ra and
bread erpmh. ! ain nov 4eFising a very
complicated electric aHHaH atHs